Carpenter’s Place gives bikes to Rockford’s homeless

Monday

Nov 4, 2013 at 5:02 PMNov 4, 2013 at 5:02 PM

By Alex GaryRockford Register Star

ROCKFORD — Lori Dougherty likes to walk. It keeps her in shape and occupies her mind.

But there are times she needs to get somewhere quickly — such as to work at Mary’s Market near East State and North Alpine — and since she’s rebuilding her life through the programs of the adult homeless service center, Carpenter’s Place, affording those wheels is difficult.

Monday, Dougherty was one of 30 Carpenter’s Place clients to receive new bicycles courtesy of a large donation from a man no one at Carpenter’s Place ever met.

The organization gave the bikes away to launch a new program called Cycles for Change. Carpenter’s Place is going to collect gently used bikes, repair them and give them to clients, or take donations to buy new bikes and bike equipment for clients.

“It will help not only get to work, but to go to meetings, to the store and to stay fit,” Dougherty said. “I’ll get to more places on time. I’m just very grateful that someone would do this for us.”

Carpenter’s Place created the program to honor Merrill Johnson, who died in October 2012 at the age of 90 and left sizable bequests in his will to several area nonprofit groups.

Included were places such as Carpenter’s Place, United Way of Rock River Valley, MELD and the Rockford Rescue Mission.

Johnson had never been involved with Carpenter’s Place so when executive director Kay Larrick heard of the bequest she decided to reach out to his family members to learn more about him.

She found out that when Johnson retired he became an avid bicyclist, covering thousands of miles in Europe and the United States. That’s why the group created the Cycles for Change plan.

“For many of our clients having a bike is a big first step to getting their life going in the right direction,” Larrick said. “Most jobs that they find they have to have access to transportation and the bus schedules don’t always work for them.”

Carpenter’s Place sees about 2,000 homeless adults each year on a budget of about $1.3 million, according to IRS records. In 2012, the organization helped 274 find permanent housing and 120 find work.

Ron Morris, a former neighbor of Johnson’s who also frequently rode bikes with him, said the long-time machinist and tool and die maker would have loved the Cycles for Change program.

“He would read the paper and notice groups like Carpenter’s Place and the good work they were doing,” Morris said. “He was a very private person so he wouldn’t have liked the limelight he’s getting today, but he would have been very impressed with what Carpenter’s Place is doing with the money.”